Has anyone driven a 3.2 6MT yet?
Okay, it was fine once you were moving and on boost, but otherwise it was marginal. Don't get me wrong, it was fine. But the 3.2's torque will blow it away. No contest. Not to mention the refined smoothness, sound, and quietness.
I ordered the 3.2 six-speed today for an Avant. The manual gearbox will make it even more fun to drive in the same way you enjoyed the 2.0T.
By the way, I drive a GTI 337 with the 1.8T and love it, so I'm not against small displacement turbo motors. But only in much lighter cars.
In an A4 with quattro, the 2.0T is overburdened from a stand-still and in low-rpm motoring.
Seems like too often folks are intent on narrowing away the difference in overall performance versus the 3.2. Maybe its just a way for them to justify their purchase. I don't see nearly as many 3.2 owners comparing their cars to the S4.
Unless you do some aftermarket upgrades, there is just not way the 2.0T can more than resemble the 3.2. I bought this car as a daily commuter for my wife in the nasty NY weather, and when we test drove she was the first to notice the difference between the 2.0 and 3.2
If you do a measurable amount of either, the 3.2's torque superiority is very, very apparent....and appreciated.
The 2.0's peak torque at 1850 rpm sounds impressive, but below that, the small displacement motor combined with little or no boost is somewhat weak given the amount of weight it must propel from a standstill.
I think the 3.2 is worth the price delta for my driving tastes.
Driving under 1850 RPMs is not something one does for more than a second or two. And with a MT, one need not ever pull away from a standstill at idle as with an AT.
And of course this is not even mentioning the fact that $600 buys a 2.0T more performance than the 3.2 offers.
Glad you are happy with your purchase, as I am with mine!
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Given $3/gallon gas, the mileage of a 2.0T manual alone is enough to persuade me. But then I live in the Pacific Northwest where I do a lot of long-distance highway driving (Vancouver BC, Portland, OR), very little stop and go, and a decent amount of higher altitude driving going backpacking on weekends.
My current 1998 A4 2.8QTip gets okay mileage, but I'm definitely looking forward to the mileage improvement. The 3.2 gets about the same mileage as my 7-year-old 2.8. I guess for the V6 Audi chose to improve horsepower and torque while keeping efficiency flat.
-James in Seattle<ul><li><a href="http://home.comcast.net/~jrdailey/">Lots of Pacific NW photos</a></li></ul>
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For those who like to play, its also no contest in my book...the 2.0 is the motor of choice.
Both are very nice motors for the application, and given the performance of the 2.0 even with my tip, the motor is not overtaxed at all. In fact, it moves this heavy car very very well.


